Horrible moment: Street collapses during flooding in New York
A road collapsed after heavy rains and flooding in Long Island, New York.
Heavy rains and flash floods in the Northeast caused a road to collapse on Long Island, New York, on Sunday, creating a massive sinkhole that was a stunning sight.
Harbor Road in Stony Brook was “catastrophically damaged” after heavy rains drenched parts of New York and Connecticut late Sunday night, Brookhaven City Councilman Dan Panico said in a post on Facebook, adding that “flooding on the north shore” had caused “significant damage to roads and homes.”
Video footage shows water pouring from the pond onto the broken road, while debris floating on the surface creates a picture of destruction to what was once a scenic site. Fallen trees can also be seen in the background.
Warning: Road collapse due to flooding
“The entire Mill Pond at Avalon emptied onto the now collapsed roadway,” Panico said, showing a video of the collapsed road.
Panico said the last time Mill Pond flooded was “over 100 years ago.” Millions of gallons of water from the pond flowed downstream along with turtles, fish and the belongings of several flooded homes, worsening flooding elsewhere.
“It’s a road and rehabilitation project that will cost over $10 million,” Panico said.
“Great catastrophe”
Ed Romaine, Suffolk County Executive, declared a state of emergency and signed a disaster declaration on Monday morning. He called on the state and federal governments to help with reconstruction. He estimated the damage for the entire county at more than $50 million.
“This is a major disaster that we did not anticipate,” Romaine said after viewing the site and the damage. “Our long-time Mill Pond is gone. Six homes here are damaged. Their personal belongings are now floating south down the creek. We are seeing reports of damage from all over the county.”
Romaine said he hopes aid will be provided to help local businesses and homeowners recover from the disaster, adding that his government is “committed to rebuilding.”
“We will rebuild. We will clean up,” Romaine said. “Whatever it takes. These are our communities. These are friends and neighbors. We will do whatever it takes to put this country back together.”
Gloria Rocchio, president of the Ward Melville Heritage Organization, which owns and operates Mill Pond, told the New York Times that the flooding broke the pond’s dam.
“It’s a tremendous loss for our organization,” Rocchio told the NYT, adding that the pond was “now nothing more than a giant puddle of mud.”
Stonybrook University cancels move-in plans for students
The unprecedented rain also flooded several areas of Stonybrook University’s campus, prompting the public school to cancel student move-in plans on Monday and Tuesday because damage has yet to be assessed, the university said in an emergency statement. However, the planned start date for the first day of classes of the fall semester remains the same: Monday, Aug. 26.
Floods devastate Connecticut and New York
Between Saturday night and Monday morning, parts of Long Island received just over 10 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service in Uptown, New York. Several areas received several inches of rain in a matter of hours, causing flash flooding that quickly turned streets into raging rivers and trapped people in their homes and cars.
Dozens of people were evacuated and rescued from their homes in several cities and towns, but the worst affected was the town of Oxford, Connecticut, where two women were swept away by the floodwaters while rescue teams tried to save them. Their bodies were recovered on Monday.
Contributor: Christopher Cann, USA TODAY
Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.
